New Study Suggests Future is Great! Or Maybe Awful!

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For the first time in the world there seems to be a philosophical disagreement between adults and teens. Jaw, meet Dropped.

New data from the quarterly Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll suggests that 68% of adult respondents believe that when today's teens become tomorrow's adults, they'll be met with less financial security, increased difficulty in maintaining a steady job, and difficulty in securing low debt housing.

Did adults just indefinitely ground the future?

Adding to the whole "our society is in imminent peril" merriment is the fact that 79% of adults polled feel as though childhood was better when they were growing up, while 75% feel it would have been better to be a parent when they were growing up as opposed to today.

Teenagers, on the other hand, tend to see the future cup from which they will eventually drink out of as being half full. For the first time, the poll also surveyed high school students who, unsurprisingly, disagreed with their elders. More than half (54%) of the 13–18 year old students surveyed believe it's better to be a teenager today as opposed to when their parents were growing up, while 45% feel they'll have more opportunity for prosperity when they reach their parents' age.

Dogs were either not polled or surprisingly neutral on the matter.

Discrepancies between adults and teens are to be expected. It's human nature to retroactively award our past a blue ribbon, since the irresistible allure of nostalgia allows us to romanticize it. Everyone's belief that their past is the best past is absolute; arguing otherwise is pointless, and some things will never change: adults will always bemoan the blatant disrespect of youth, teens will remain frustrated by seemingly arbitrary parental guidelines, Knock-Knock and Who's There will never settle their differences over a reasonably priced, well-seasoned ham.

The more intriguing question lies in the generational disparity regarding our future. Are teens naive? Adults cynical? Polling numbers suggest that one significant reason adults seem skeptical about our future is the lack of involvement of other parents. 69% of adults polled believe parents are too busy with work and their own personal lives to spend enough time with their children or to give them the attention they need to learn and grow.

"These findings reinforce a challenging backdrop," said executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Allstate Sanjay Gupta, "But the optimism of the younger generation gives us hope in the enduring American dream."

What do you think, SparkLife Nation? When it comes to our future are parents overly pessimistic? Are teenagers naively optimistic? Is it a little bit of both? We want to hear what you think!